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Broadband Dearth Fuels Digital Divide, Report Says

The new report, authored by Matt Robison _ a graduate student at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a former staffer at the Economic Strategy Institute _ shows that "We are slipping toward two technological Americas: separate and unequal," McCurry said in a statement.

The report concludes that digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies are the best way to deploy broadband access in the beginning of the new millennium, but that continuing restrictions on incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs, such as the baby Bells and GTE Corp.) under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, will prevent this from happening, and thus widen the digital divide.

The report specifically referenced Section 271 of the Telecom Act, which states provisions ILECs must satisfy to enter local markets. Robison said that the clause was written only with voice telephony in mind, not data services.

Molinari in the same statement added that "less government regulation will mean more high-speed Internet access, more revenue and more jobs."

The report, "A 21st Century Internet for All Americans," claims that less than 10 percent of "high-speed redundant connections touch rural America," which shows that the "Internet explosion...has not created opportunity for all.'

According to the report, more than 53 million urban Americans will have access to high-speed broadband technologies, compared to less than 1 million rural Americans.

Robison concluded that, adjusted for population, urban Americans "are 18 times more likely to be offered broadband services than rural Americans."

The study also said that DSL remains the best option for broadband deployment because "broadband cable is too limited in its reach while wireless technologies are not forecast to make a large impact in the market in the foreseeable future."

"Congress should pass legislation ending the interLATA (local access transport area) restriction for networks that service Internet and data traffic," Robison wrote.

The report also cited the Economic Strategy Institute's argument that a "dramatic shift" to broadband services would add $616 billion to $721 billion to the US gross domestic product by 2005, as well as another 4.4 million to 5.1 million jobs.

The study also cited Commerce Department, Milken Institute and Progressive Policy Institute studies that say that "some areas of the country and certain segments of the population are ill- positioned to take advantage and succeed in the Internet economy."

A House bill, H.R. 2420, sponsored by House Commerce Committee Ranking Democrat John Dingell, D-Mich., and House Telecommunications Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La., would allow ILECs to offer DSL services outside of their local regions.

Groups such as the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) have opposed this effort because they say that the Telecom Act by default addresses data services, and that since the future of telephony lies in data services, such a bill would allow ILECs to retain their historical monopolies.

Reported by Newsbytes.com, www.newsbytes.com.

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